VWL Lovers & Groupies Thread: Meese-ka, Mice-ka MOOSE-kateers

[Muushka]

Hey folks

We have guests(3 little ones, aged 1, 2 and 3, plus their older bro 13) staying with us this week and next. Tammys bro just came in from Korea 1yr stint and he and his DW are getting things arranged to send to England for 3yrs, so no furniture, no vehicles makes it rough. Tammy told em to send the kiddies here Seriously, its been tough to reply with work and all.

Hoping to talk to Stan tonight. He has been with out treatments since Tues, so hoping to find him with strength. Will def. let yall know an update if I get to talk to him or Carolyn.

Julie
As far as living in NC, we love it! We are 2.5 hrs from mountains, which are beautiful in spring and fall, skiing at several places in winter, Blue Ridge parkway, etc. Beaches near Wilmington are 3-3.5 hrs, outer banks near Nags Head area 5 hrs. So the best of many worlds! We live along the I-85/40 corridor near Elon University. Closer to Muushka, about an hour from here is Research Triangle Park along same roads, UNC, Duke and NC State are stones throw from each other, Wake Forest, 45 mins NW of us in Winston Salem. We are 9.5 to 10.5 hr drive to the Lodge depending on traffic. Charlotte is 1.5 hrs SW of us. Charlotte, Raleigh, both provide lots of opportunities for jobs, schools. Wilmington has grown, almost to much IMO, traffic being a bear ,plus tourist season. Charlotte and Raleigh both have heavy traffic but lots of reroute areas, especially Raleigh.

As for SPED, we are out of the loop on it. Our DS had some issues as a younger student, and he got services but only because Tammy remained vigilent, and she was able to get with the right folks to help her along the way. Since homeschooling came into the picture, we havent needed it, so we are too far removed to know about it truly. Wish we could be more help. I do feel the bigger cities, like most would provide more alternatives.

Our area seems to be more of a bedroom community, lots of commuters. But its a great place to raise your family, a great place to call home. You will find all kinds of folks in NC. Chapel Hill, very liberal town, in fact Orange Co. where it is located is a very liberal county. Just over the line in Alamance Co. where we live, more conservative. Lots of differing political views abound in NC. Areas tend to lend themselves this way. I will say that economically, most of NC is in good shape, but east of Raleigh until you reach Wilmington, nothing but farmland. Job wise those areas bleak. Raleigh to Charlotte, not bad. Greensboro, just above our area has small city feel but lots of opportunities.

We would love having yall in NC! Its not as apparent these days, but you still get strangers waving at you and being nice for no reason other than its the right thing to do.

Hope this helps, if you have anything else to ask, I will do my best to answer.

Wow Jimmy, great job! Say, is that 1 year old the same kiddo that had the problems last year at birth? Sounds like all is well.

Have a great time in Maine TP. That is one lovely state.

Happy weekend all.

 

[horselover]

JT - thank you! That is some great information. Ok, so tell me the truth about the weather please! What are your summers like? Do you get snow there? I would think if you get it at all it would be minimal.

Blossomz - I'll let you know if I need more info. Thanks for the offer to help.

Muush - I sent you a PM. JT answered a lot of it, but I'm looking for a former New Englander's perspective.

Trish - thanks for the tip on the ornament. It will be mine! If you can't find anyone to get one for you I'd be happy to look when we're back in Oct. & have it shipped to you.

Have a great weekend groupies!

 

[stopher1]

Hey Groupies,

I've been MIA this week, but just got caught up on what I've missed. Had a great time last weekend at the world, even though sadly, there was lots of texting back and forth, but no actual meeting of both horselover and corinne. But we had fun texting while trying.

The past few days have been very interesting, however, to say the least.

Wednesday evening I got a text from my cousin in CA that my grandmother was taken to the emergency room as she had gone into renal failure. Since then it's been a constant watching and waiting for news to trickle in. At first they were saying the docs were estimating 12 hours, but that proved to be untrue. My dad flew down from San Francisco, and my aunt flew down on Thursday morning from Washington state. With my uncle living right there in So. Cal, all three of her kids have been around her since Thursday about noon. Thurs. evening they said she had stopped communicating. By Friday morning they said that she had internal bleeding, and then 3 systems were failing. The docs were amazed that she is still with us. Last evening I got a text that she hadn't been awake, still sleeping, for more than 15 hours. My aunt had been talking with the funeral home to get info and they were starting the planning process for the eventual reality. Then a text came through that a blood test revealed there had been slight improvement with her kidneys and her potassium levels, even though her BP remained very low. As of going to bed last night, they were saying she might be around another day or two. The time zone thing has been very, very frustrating at best. Being on the earlier start of the day end, I sit around and wait til almost noon my time before hearing anything from the west coast. Ugh. My dad said the depending on when she goes, the earliest the funeral would be would be Tuesday, but each passing day adds a day. By this morning, not having heard anything, now the earliest would be Wednesday.

My DW flies out to CA on Monday to spend time with her dad, who is continuing to go downhill himself. So I'll be single parenting while she's gone... and at the same time, trying to figure out who might watch the kids for me so I too can fly west to get to the funeral. DW already asked if she should pack something appropriate to wear for a funeral, which of course I said yes. But we're still watching and waiting, so who knows. My grandmother is fighting and hasn't thrown in the towel yet. She's definitely dealt with a lot in 2011... heart attack, broken hip, cracked ribs, and continuing deterioration of her mental state... and now this. If I were her I would just say I'm ready Lord and be done with it.



Nice pics I Book.
Good luck with your relocation pondering HL.
I loved your list Dad about Ohio - had me cracking up, Indiana is similar.
Did you ever get my texts Muush from last weekend? Normally you respond, but this time you didn't, so I'm thinking maybe you didn't get them.

 

[Muushka]

HL, PM parts 1 and 2 are on the way!!

Hey Groupies,

I've been MIA this week, but just got caught up on what I've missed. Had a great time last weekend at the world, even though sadly, there was lots of texting back and forth, but no actual meeting of both horselover and corinne. But we had fun texting while trying.

The past few days have been very interesting, however, to say the least.

Wednesday evening I got a text from my cousin in CA that my grandmother was taken to the emergency room as she had gone into renal failure. Since then it's been a constant watching and waiting for news to trickle in. At first they were saying the docs were estimating 12 hours, but that proved to be untrue. My dad flew down from San Francisco, and my aunt flew down on Thursday morning from Washington state. With my uncle living right there in So. Cal, all three of her kids have been around her since Thursday about noon. Thurs. evening they said she had stopped communicating. By Friday morning they said that she had internal bleeding, and then 3 systems were failing. The docs were amazed that she is still with us. Last evening I got a text that she hadn't been awake, still sleeping, for more than 15 hours. My aunt had been talking with the funeral home to get info and they were starting the planning process for the eventual reality. Then a text came through that a blood test revealed there had been slight improvement with her kidneys and her potassium levels, even though her BP remained very low. As of going to bed last night, they were saying she might be around another day or two. The time zone thing has been very, very frustrating at best. Being on the earlier start of the day end, I sit around and wait til almost noon my time before hearing anything from the west coast. Ugh. My dad said the depending on when she goes, the earliest the funeral would be would be Tuesday, but each passing day adds a day. By this morning, not having heard anything, now the earliest would be Wednesday.

My DW flies out to CA on Monday to spend time with her dad, who is continuing to go downhill himself. So I'll be single parenting while she's gone... and at the same time, trying to figure out who might watch the kids for me so I too can fly west to get to the funeral. DW already asked if she should pack something appropriate to wear for a funeral, which of course I said yes. But we're still watching and waiting, so who knows. My grandmother is fighting and hasn't thrown in the towel yet. She's definitely dealt with a lot in 2011... heart attack, broken hip, cracked ribs, and continuing deterioration of her mental state... and now this. If I were her I would just say I'm ready Lord and be done with it.



Nice pics I Book.
Good luck with your relocation pondering HL.
I loved your list Dad about Ohio - had me cracking up, Indiana is similar.
Did you ever get my texts Muush from last weekend? Normally you respond, but this time you didn't, so I'm thinking maybe you didn't get them.

I am so sorry about your grandmother Stoph. Not sure what her prayer request would be at this time?

I did get a text last week, but for some reason it would not deliver it to me so I had no idea who it was from. I will try to text you some time this weekend.

 

[blossomz]

Woo Hoo!!! Girls trip to VWL!!! My friend and I are heading down for just the weekend to experience food and wine and Mickey's not so scary!!! This will be the first time I've gotten to either event! Please add my trip to the trip list! Anyone else going to be there? Oct 27-30!!!

 

[Muushka]

Woo Hoo!!! Girls trip to VWL!!! My friend and I are heading down for just the weekend to experience food and wine and Mickey's not so scary!!! This will be the first time I've gotten to either event! Please add my trip to the trip list! Anyone else going to be there? Oct 27-30!!!

Oh Bloss, we will be arriving just as you leave

 

[blossomz]

Oh Bloss, we will be arriving just as you leave

Oh DARN!!!

 

[capttigger]

Hi folks

Some of you know I am at Disney right now with my wife Time4disney Sherrie. Well we arrived yesterday and had a 1 bedroom scheduled for the Villas at Wilderness Lodge. We went to the desk and checked in which we had done online and got our packet and left our cell so they could text us when the room was ready. We then went to Downtown Disney to get lunch at Earl of Sandwich. We got a voice mail asking us to call the manager at the Lodge that they had an opportunity for us. So Sherrie called and we were told they would like to move us over to the lodge in the Yellowstone Suite (presidential suite)…. Sherrie said drop everything and lets get back. So we did…. and the Manager Steven rechecked us in and told us we would have concierge and internet and it would be for our whole stay of 4 nights. WOW…….. Like what more could we ask for????

Could this trip get any better…….

 

[blossomz]

Wow! Can't wait to hear all about that!!

 

[Muushka]

Hi folks

Some of you know I am at Disney right now with my wife Time4disney Sherrie. Well we arrived yesterday and had a 1 bedroom scheduled for the Villas at Wilderness Lodge. We went to the desk and checked in which we had done online and got our packet and left our cell so they could text us when the room was ready. We then went to Downtown Disney to get lunch at Earl of Sandwich. We got a voice mail asking us to call the manager at the Lodge that they had an opportunity for us. So Sherrie called and we were told they would like to move us over to the lodge in the Yellowstone Suite (presidential suite)…. Sherrie said drop everything and lets get back. So we did…. and the Manager Steven rechecked us in and told us we would have concierge and internet and it would be for our whole stay of 4 nights. WOW…….. Like what more could we ask for????

Could this trip get any better…….

Yes!! Showing your Groupie friends your suite!! Congrats on your awesome upgrade. I was just kidding (mostly ) about the pics.

 

[Muushka]

I just did a search for your suite. Sweet! Wow, good for you!

 

[jimmytammy]

Muushka Yes that is the same kid and she is doing great! Hard to believe all she went through, as I write this she is busy crawling around T, getting sleepy but fighting it all the way.

HL Summers can be hot but worse is humidity, wont sugarcoat it. But other seasons are usually downright nice. Spring and fall especially, We do have significant snows, maybe a ft at most, but they go away quickly. Closer to Mts., yes they get a lot sometimes. But we went several winters with high 70 days, so you never know.

 

[jimmytammy]

Spoke with Stan and Carolyn both. I feel so great calling him, he sounded like his old self, in fact better than when he told me the news. He shared that he felt great under circumstances, was being taken very good care of, being fed well. He appreciates all the prayers and he feels them being lifted and being answered. He knows we are praying for him, and he said to tell all here how much he hopes that God blesses us richly. He will have bone marrow test Tues.
So for specifics, lets pray towards good results from test. He feels really positive that all will go well and is looking forward to going home so he can get some travel time in. He said the hospital is really nice, like being in a vacation home and he feels like a king there. Good ol Stan. I wouldnt have expected anything else from him.

 

[blossomz]

Thanks for the update JT. We do love our Stan and pray only for the best of outcomes!

 

[franandaj]

Hi Groupies,

Stopher - Sorry to hear about your Grandmonther and FIL, but I know how you feel having been through a similar situation with my in laws. Prayers to you and your DW to get through this difficult time.

We're going through a grueling time, though not as difficult as many of the other groupies, but I'm losing some steam having just come back from the world and have over 4 months until we go back and all the daunting tasks ahead of us. My FIL passed about a year and a half ago. He was a mean and awful man and don't like to say that about anyone, but to his family that's just how he was. When he died we had spent five thankless years of our lives taking care of both parents (my in-laws). Both were in their eighties, never had a plan for getting old and senile and becuase we only lived a few blocks away, they continually drew upon us for whatever they wanted, always holding that carat of, "we're going to write you out of the will" when the lawyer knew all along they were both senile and crazy. We just listened to hurtful insults and abusive comments especially when we had to take the car away from the FIL.

So once he passed I guess we jsut relished in the fact that we had our lives back. I'm not sure what we did for the year or so after he died (although much of it was spent waiting on a loan since he left us broke with the caregiver bills). But anyways we really couldn't do anything with his house until some things came through (that were dependent on receiving the loan). So the loan came through in January and over the last three to four months we have been working through the process of getting his house ready for an estate sale. I know the companies will come in and just list everything for you, but we wanted to take the things we wanted, plus we had a few things of our own to throw int the mix.

I think we're almost to the point of having the sale, but it's been a lot of hard work to get there. I hope within the next week or so we can start scheduling interviews with companies to host our sale and by the end of the summer have the place remodeled and rented. I'm about tired enough with all the work we've done so far that I just hope it all gets done.

All the trips we took in the last two months slowed us down, but it was really nice to get away after a long time of financial uncertainty and other worries. Even if it did slow down our cleaning out process we had some fun for the first time in quite a long time! I just hope that we get that sale going soon and can move on to the next chapter, renting the place and getting some income!

Woo Hoo!!! Girls trip to VWL!!! My friend and I are heading down for just the weekend to experience food and wine and Mickey's not so scary!!! This will be the first time I've gotten to either event! Please add my trip to the trip list! Anyone else going to be there? Oct 27-30!!!

We will be there then, but at BCV the days you're down. We transfer to VWL the day after you leave to relax from all the F&W fun! We thought about doing MNSSHP but decided that for the extra admission cost, we probably wouldn't get $70pp worth of enjoyment out of it and decided to spend our $70pp person enjoyment on a F&W Signature event (and then some!)

This will be our next change to really hang out and enjoy ourselves, I hope all the remodels and rentals are complete buy the time we can go so we can really enjoy ourselves!

 

[jimmytammy]

Stopher
Continued prayers being sent heavenward for you and your loved ones

 

[jimmytammy]

Hi folks

Some of you know I am at Disney right now with my wife Time4disney Sherrie. Well we arrived yesterday and had a 1 bedroom scheduled for the Villas at Wilderness Lodge. We went to the desk and checked in which we had done online and got our packet and left our cell so they could text us when the room was ready. We then went to Downtown Disney to get lunch at Earl of Sandwich. We got a voice mail asking us to call the manager at the Lodge that they had an opportunity for us. So Sherrie called and we were told they would like to move us over to the lodge in the Yellowstone Suite (presidential suite)…. Sherrie said drop everything and lets get back. So we did…. and the Manager Steven rechecked us in and told us we would have concierge and internet and it would be for our whole stay of 4 nights. WOW…….. Like what more could we ask for????

Could this trip get any better…….

Checked it out and WOW is right. I wasnt even aware that WL had a room like that. You guys enjoy!!

 

[wildernessDad]

stopher, sorry to hear about your loved ones. If it is their time, I hope that they go peacefully and without pain.


capttigger, that's quite an upgrade. Perhaps I'll have to book a 1-bedroom in the future.

 

[Corinne]

Hi Groupies,

We are back from yet another wonderful vacation. We enjoyed our stay at Saratoga. We ended up in the Grandstand (which I had requested) in the building closest to the bus stop. It was a convenient location, man is that place HUGE!! lol! Our room was ready when we arrived at 11:00AM! We moved over to the Boardwalk on Monday, and, as always, had a great time there. As Horselover and Stopher previously reported, we never did get it together~leaving my cell charging in the room didn't help

Stopher~I am so sorry to hear about your grandmother and your fil. Sending thoughts and prayers your way.

Horselover~I have been a New Englander my entire life, so I do not have anything to offer on relocating. But if it were me, once the education issues were addressed, I would be going where the winters are mild!

Jimmy~Thank you for keeping us informed about Stan. Have fun with all those little ones!!

Trish~your photos are awesome!!!!! I am loving them, keep 'em coming!

capttigger~Cannot wait to see photos of your suite!

Eliza~Welcome back, your photos are great

 

[Muushka]

stopher, sorry to hear about your loved ones. If it is their time, I hope that they go peacefully and without pain.


capttigger, that's quite an upgrade. Perhaps I'll have to book a 1-bedroom in the future.

No! Have capttigger book one for you! That's what I want to do.

Whoop Whoop Whoop

Announcement!!!

Tomorrow is Corinne's Birthday!!!!

Give it up for Corinne!!

So, where's lunch tomorrow? Where shall we meet??
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